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Monday, October 05, 2015

CRAZY OR NOT, HERE WE COME! AND THE GREAT GIRLFRIEND GETAWAY!

I'm lucky enough to have a little piece of heaven on the Isle of Palms in the famed South Carolina Lowcountry just twenty minutes from Charleston. I'm also a midlist author trying to grow my readership. Two years ago, I told my agent I was going to do a giveaway of sorts to reach out to book clubs. The idea was to hold a drawing form entrants online and from events that I did for a weekend, bed and breakfast style, for one lucky book club. She told me I was either the smartest author on the planet or the stupidest.

But I figured book club members know each other, and for the most part actually like each other, so

how bad could it be right? The winning club was a group of six women from NYC who wanted to wait until one of their members who was very sick got better to claim their prize. The date rolled around for the trip and they forfeited, and the Read Between the Wines book club came that weekend. We had such an amazing time, I wanted to try this year's giveaway with six winners who did not know each other, each of whom would bring their bestie.

It was risky to be sure, but on a beautiful spring weekend this past April, twelve women invaded my house. All different ages, all from different socioeconomic levels, all of them bonding over their love for books. It was truly the most amazing weekend, and it was also a testament to the power of books and the kindness of women.

We were pretty far from the presidential elections when I hosted the first girlfriend weekend, but after being bombarded with candidates who want to rule our world, I can't help but think if everyone just got out of the way and let those women figure things out, this world would be much better off. And they'd probably convert a slew of readers in the process.

So, I'm doing it again, the Great Girlfriend Beach Getaway. If you'd like to enter just click here. Travel IS NOT included, lodging, breakfast and a fabulous time are guaranteed. Y'all come!

3 comments:

One correction - it rained for most of that weekend. But we still had the best time and made great friends. Most of us stay in regular contact through Facebook. I feel like we were already best friends, we just hadn't met before that weekend. So thankful to Kim Boykin for a great weekend. She is the smartest person ever!